How Will Bipolar Disorder Affect Aging?

Related

Could bipolar disorder have long-term effects on my brain, and how will the disease progress as I get older? For example, am I more likely to experience dementia or other serious mental health problems? Will I eventually be unable to take care of myself?

— Nicole, California

Your concerns about living with bipolar disorder are understandable. I strongly urge my clients to become very knowledgeable about whatever mental illness they may be dealing with. Being informed increases their sense of mastery, allows them to more effectively manage their illness, and ensures them a better quality of life.

The impact of living with bipolar disorder over a lifetime is not clearly known. What is known is that proper management of the disorder is key to living a full and productive life. The prevailing approach combines medication and psychosocial treatment for optimal management over time. Because bipolar disorder is considered a recurrent illness in most cases, continuous treatment is recommended for proper symptom management. Working with your psychiatrist is critical to prevent extreme episodes of either depression or mania. In this regard, it is important that you inform your doctor of mood changes to help him or her determine whether a change in treatment is indicated. Keeping a chart of daily moods, treatments, sleep patterns, and life events may help the doctor track and treat the illness more effectively.

Regarding dementia specifically, some studies have found that people with bipolar disorder do appear to be at an increased risk of developing dementia later in life, compared with people without bipolar disorder or those who have other medical conditions, but the designs of these studies limit the strength of the conclusions drawn.

One thing is clear: The two strongest predictors of dementia are old age and family history, not bipolar disorder. Although there is much uncertainty about dementia's causes, the medical community recommends the following to minimize your risk: lowering cholesterol and blood pressure, controlling diabetes, getting regular exercise, eating a healthy diet, and engaging in activities that stimulate the brain.

One of the challenges of living with bipolar disorder, or any other chronic illness, is managing the uncertainty over time. A good strategy for this is to influence those aspects of life you can: Be sure to exercise; eat well; control cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood sugar; and keep doing things that exercise your brain. Your goal is to be the healthiest person living with bipolar disorder that you can be.

This site complies with the HONcode standard for trustworthy health information: verify here.

Advertising Notice

This Site and third parties who place advertisements on this Site may collect and use information about
your visits to this Site and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of
interest to you. If you would like to obtain more information about these advertising practices and to make
choices about online behavioral advertising, please click here.